jaacob.com

A photo I took of the Lotus Cafe in Portland was included in the Schmap Guide to Portland (Top Nightlife section). The site is a pretty cool concept, putting together guides to cities using materials found on sites like Flickr, but they’ve really got to work on their load times. Firefox 2 on OS X took nearly 3 minutes to load the thing.

• Short story with a lesson when raising capital at the beginningc; don’t sell stock, sell convertible debt. And don’t promise the moon.
• SpotScout: Online marketplace for parking spots. All that buzz (NYT, Boston Globe, Financial Times, CNN, etc.) comes from it being a novel concept, but will it turn into a money-making venture? (2006 revenue = 0, with 7 employees.)
• Inspiring: Kidrobot’s Paul Budnitz on making time for creative thinking.
• Part Nine (of nine) of Norm Brodsky’s adventure in selling his business: One key lesson learned—always know who has the final say when negotiating.
• TechShop: I totally want one of these near me. It’s like the gym, but instead of working out, you get to play with welding equipment, lathes, 3D printers and other fun stuff. [Inc. article]
• Elevator Pitches: Wow do I need help with mine. Most of the time, people kind of scratch their head while their eyes go glossy—and I don’t even do anything unheard of. Great tips on discovering the core of what you do and refining how you say it.